B.RAMAN
Citing chinamil.com, the “People’s Daily” of the
Communist Party of China (CPC) has reported as follows on January 8,2013:
“Recently, an armored regiment under the Xinjiang
Military Area Command (MAC) of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA)
organized dozens of armored vehicles to conduct drill on snow-capped plateau,
in a bid to temper troops' combat capability under extreme cold condition.
(chinamil.com.cn/Liu Yong)”
2. The report also carried two photographs of the
exercise by the PLA Armoured Regiment. No other details are available. The
report does not give the exact location of the exercise area.
3. The exercise raises the following questions of
significance:
· Was
the exercise connected with the internal security situation in the Xinjiang
province which has been facing an anti-Beijing revolt by sections of the
Uighurs, some of them allegedly belonging to the Islamic Movement of Eastern
Turkestan which has bases in the Federally-Administered Tribal Areas of
Pakistan (FATA)?
· Was
the exercise also connected with the recently-reported deployment of some
Chinese security guards in the Gilgit-Baltistan area of Pakistan to provide
security to Chinese construction teams working on various projects in the GB
area, including the upgradation of the Karakoram Highway?
· Were
the exercises carried out in co-ordination with Pakistan?
4.These are questions
which need probing by the Indian intelligence. (8-1-13)
( The writer is
Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat,Govt. of India, New Delhi,
and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai, and Associate
of the Chennai Centre For Chennai Studies.E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com .Twitter:
@SORBONNE75 )
